This invention relates generally to the field of cleaning devices and specifically to a mop suitable for use in cleaning windows, floors and decks on which fluids may have spilled. The mop may be constructed either to operate manually, or by an electro-mechanical power arrangement.
The earliest mops comprised a handle at the lower end of which was provided some type of expanded wiper formed of cloth or absorbent rope ends which, when passed over an area containing water or other liquid, would tend to absorb the liquid and enable it to be deposited in a bucket or other receptacle. In order to extract the collected liquid from the fabric or other liquid absorbing material, provision was made for some type of wringer on the edge of the bucket. This required the liquid absorbing material to be passed between rollers or some other squeezing device to result in depositing the liquid in the bucket.
Recognizing the inconvenience of having to wring out the mop head by a bucket-mounted wringer, inventors have undertaken to devise various means for squeezing water out of such mop head, which means are disposed on the mop handle itself. Such means provide in some way to encompass the liquid absorbing material and squeeze it. These expedients were facilitated by the substitution of sponge-like material for the cloth or other fabric originally used on mops. An example of such a mop is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,791. While this and other types of mops may be effective in certain applications, their operation requires a certain degree of physical strength to pull the sponge-like wiping material up into, and between, a pair of rollers or other squeezing elements, to effect the discharge of water or other liquid material picked up by the sponge-like wiper.
In an effort to decrease the amount of physical exertion required to draw the liquid absorbing sponge-like material between squeezing elements, it has been proposed to provide a hollow handle for a self-wringing mop, through which handle, a detachable threaded element may extend from a source of power to be rotated as a drive to draw the sponge material after wetting, between rollers. An example of this approach to a self-wringing mop may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,904. The difficulty with this approach, however, is that, in order to rotate the shaft effectively to draw the mop between the squeezing rollers, far more power is required than can be provided by any motor with batteries which are small enough to avoid making the mop handle completely unwieldy.
It would, nevertheless, be desirable to have a self-wringing mop which could pick up water or other liquid and then be able to discharge that liquid into a bucket without undue physical exertion, or having a mop handle which is of such size and weight to render it unwieldy in its use by an average cleaning person.
The present invention provides a self-wringing mop which is neither heavy nor unwieldy and, in one preferred embodiment, may be operated by a mini electric motor powered by four AAA regular or rechargeable batteries disposed preferably in the upper of three sections comprising the mop handle. The bottom section of the mop handle includes a solid cylindrical core, the lower end of which is secured to a plate. The underside of the plate may be covered by sponge-like material. The intermediate section of the mop handle may have a mini high speed electric motor, a gear train terminating in a pinion which engages a rack which may be advanced and retracted. The rack is connected to a sleeve which is slideable up and down the core. The sponge-like material is disposed on the lower face of an orificed plastic plate which is hinged around two parallel groove lines spaced apart from each other and transverse to the axis of the core of the lower section. One of the grooves of the plastic plate is disposed more closely to the one transverse edge of the plate than the other groove is distanced from the opposite edge of the plate. The latter edge of the plate is turned to extend for a short distance down the side of a rectangular sponge. The opposite edge of the plate is also similarly turned and desirably may extend further down the side of the sponge. The portion of the plate intermediate of the grooves is secured by an I-beam to the lower end of a rigid core member extending through the sleeve to a fixed position in the intermediate section of the mop handle. The lower end of the sleeve or tube terminates in a housing assembly having a rectangular upper area face normal to the axis of the tube and secured to the lower end of the tube. The tube is preferably flared out to increase the area of the rectangular upper face of the housing to which face the tube is attached.
The housing extends downwardly and its sides are opened up each to terminate in two flat fingers which initially angle slightly apart from each other, but terminate somewhat angled back toward each other. The forward fingers of each pair are angled to a greater degree than the rear fingers. All fingers are slightly rounded at their ends. The open spaces between the fingers on each side are of sufficient area to permit the housing to be moved down over the I-beam attached to the plastic plate for a relatively short predetermined distance.
Additional grooves are provided on the top of the plastic plate to receive the lower ends of the fingers of the housing and to permit them to be moved forwardly and rearwardly over the plate, thereby to bend the outer hinged portions of the plate about their respective transverse grooves.
With the arrangement thus described, when the power button is pushed, the rack is moved by the mini motor through the gear train. Downward advancing of the rack which is attached to the tubular portion, results in moving the lower ends of the fingers of the housing across the vertical grooves in the hinged plate to force the outer hinged sections of the plate to pivot about their respective groove hinges towards each other, thereby tightly encompassing the sponge attached to the underside of the plate to squeeze water or other liquid from the sponge. The water may pass through the orifices in the plate and out of the ends of the sponge.
Release of the power button results in the retraction of the rack and its attached tube and the fingered housing at its lower end. With such withdrawal, the hinged plate may return to its near planar status to present the sponge face for further use.
While the preferred embodiment is operated by a battery powered mini motor, the squeezing arrangement itself is a separate part of the present invention, and may be utilized manually. This may be accomplished by simply having the outer tube slideably disposed over a solid immovable core comprising the lower section of the handle, the lower end of which is secured to the I-beam. Manually sliding the outer tube downwardly will cause the fingers of the housing to move over the plate in the same manner as previously described.
It may be seen from the foregoing and the detailed description of the invention with reference to the drawings hereinafter provided, that the applicant has described an advanced and improved self-squeezing mop which may be utilized by persons with minimum strength. Even when the mop is constructed for manual operation, it will be found to require little force to move the lower sleeve downwardly to squeeze the sponge portions of the mop head. In addition, because of the utilization and construction of readily available parts which can be easily fabricated, the self-cleaning mop of the present invention may be manufactured and sold at a reasonable price.